happy chinese new year!

taken from google image

once again, i am celebrating chinese new year away from home. btw it's the year of the rabbit for those who are interested.. regardless i was gonna make the best of it :) i called my parents and they told me that they were working on a 10 course cny eve reunion dinner. since i was doing my own version of mini reunion dinner, i prepared three dishes. 

a fish dish is a must because "yu" which means fish is commonly conflated with its homophone "abundance". i found myself a whole red fish snapper and steamed it with a thai sauce. second dish was a shrimp dish with shiitake mushroom and oyster sauce - the same way my mom cooks it for chinese new year eve dinner. i am so happy it turned out almost like my mom and when i took a bite, it took me back to the time when i spent cny with my family back home. the third dish was an asparagus dish with canned small clams and mushrooms. 

there was so much food that i prepared which was perfect because my parents reminded me that i had to have leftovers to bring forward to the new year - sort of a sign of continuity into the new year.  it wasn't as much food as what my family has back home but i was happy to bring a lil bit of festivities into my own apartment. :)

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!